Hugh w



(No Model.)

-H.W. COLLBNDBR. PooL TRIANGLE AND BOX.

FIGJ.

TIATES i Urvira ArtNr @irma P'OL TRIANGLE 'AND BOX.4

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 294,200, dated February 26, 1884. Application filed January 25, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGH IV. CoLLnNnER, of New York city, in the county of N ew York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful-Pool Triangle and Box; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this application.

My inven tion relates to a novel construction of thel implement usually employed to place on the table, in proper order, the fifteen balls used in playing the game of fifteen-ball pool,77 and has for its objects, first, to render said implement or contrivance serviceable also as a case or receptacle for the storage or keeping of both the set of fteen balls and the players or white ball, as well as the small balls, and, second, to render said implement capable of serving also, in the mostdesirable man* ner, as a tray, into which the balls may becoll lected from the pool-rack, to be carried to the table by the game-keeper (at the end of a game) for replacement thereon.

To these main ends and objects my invention consists, primarily, in a combined "triangle7 and storage case or receptacle, and,

secondarily, in a triangle or ball-tray provided with a sliding` bottom, which is afforded a conti nuous support at .two opposite edges in every position in which the said bottom may be A placed, all as will be hereinafter more fully explained.

To enable those skilled in thev art to which my invention relates to make and use it, I will. now proceed to more fully describe the same,

referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specication, and in which I have shown a contrivance embracing the features of my invention in those forms in which I have so far practiced my improvements.

In the drawings, Figure l is an isometrical perspective view of one of my improved implements in a vclosed-up condition. Fig. 2 is a top view 0f the article with the cover or lid ofthe case removed. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken at the line x x of Fig. 2, and showing the sliding and removable bottom slid part way out, (as it would appear during the operation of depositing` or placing` the fifteen balls on'the table ready for play.) Fig. 4 is a vertical section at the line 'y y of Fig. 2; and in the several figures the same part will be found designated by the same letter of reference.

A is the body portion or main part of the case, and B the removable lid or cover. The lid and body are made to tit together, preferablyby means of rabbets a a a, on three ofthe upper edges of the box part A, engaging with correspondiugly-shaped projecting ledges on three of the under sides or edges of the lid B, and the latter, as shown, is preferably made so as to afford space within it for the upwardlyprojecting portions of the balls C, which may be packed in the body portion A of the contrivancc. (See Fig. 4.) Thebox or case A and its lid B are preferably about square in contour, and within the body portion A is permanently arranged or formed the usual triangle, D, for positioning the fifteen balls on the table. The (substantially) right-angled triangular spaces at E E, which occur between the eXteriors of two of the sides of the triangle D and the interiors of three adjacent sides of the body portion A ofthe implement, are provided with permanent bottoms, and serve as depositories for certain other implements of the game. In one of these compartmentsE may be kept the white ball or players ball F in a seat formed by, perforating the bottom of said compartment, as seen best at Fig. 4. In the other may be kept the small balls G and any other matter which can be accommodated, and which the gaine-keeper or room-keeper may see fit to store in the box. i

I is a sliding bottom to the entire box or case. It is rectangular in contour, as seen, should be made as thin as possible, of some suitable material, and may be covered on lits top surface, or, at least, on that portion of its top surface which forms the bottom to the triangle D, in order that the balls, when put into the triangle, may cushion thereon, and not either make too much noise or be battered or marred on their colored surfaces. This sliding bottom I has two opposite edges seated in grooves at i i, that are formed in the downward extensions m m of two opposite sides of the body portion A of the contrivance, (see Figs. 3 and 4,) which extensions, however, should be made as slight as possible consistent with strength, in order that in drawing out the bottom I to let the balls in the trian- IOO 2 @9&,2049

gle down onto the table they may have to fall the least possible distance. For convenience of manipulation of this sliding bottom I, I have formed a sort of thumb hole or notch at p, to facilitate getting hold of one edge of I to pull it out.

During the use of the contrivance as a tray into which to gather the balls from the poolrack, and as a tria-ngle to position the balls on the table, the playerisball. small balls, and any other articles which may have been kept in the box are of course in use and out of the way, and the game-keeper uses the improved implement much after the fashion of using other constructions of triangles and traysthat is to say, he takes the implement, with its bottom Iin place, to the pool-rack, 'from which all balls in said rack are gathered into the triangular receptacle (either by picking the balls out of the rack and placing them in the tray, or by the automatic discharge of the contents of the rack) in about the usual manner. He then places the contrivance in proper position on the table, as usual, and having first seen that the pool-balls are properly arranged, (with the fifteen-ball at theapex of the pyramid facing the striker, &c.,) he withdraws the sliding bottom, letting the balls all rest on thetable, then finally adjusts the batch perfectly, and, as usual, c arefull y lifts upwardly and away from the mass the now bottoinless triangle.

The sliding bottom I may be then replaced, ready for a reuse of the implement. In lieu of the thumb-notch referred to, the handling of the sliding or false bottom I may be facilitated, if desired, by ln'oviding said bottom I with a tab-like projection or handle at the proper point to convenience the handler of the contri vance in pulling out the bottom. If deemed expedient, the arrangement or combination of the sliding bottom I with the body portion A may besuch that by means of some suitable stop devices said bottom will be capable of sliding out of its seats or grooves only sufficiently far to permit the extrication of the balls from the triangle, and thus avoid the possibility of such dropping of the entirely removed bottom, and any such slight inconvenience or trouble to the gameheeper as may be experienced in having toreplace the whole removed bottom piece, but all such and other mere modifications arenot ot' course material to the invention made the subject of my application.

It will be seen that by the combination in oneimplement or article ofthe triangle D, with its movable bottonnand the rectangular case A, I produce a cont-rivance which serves not only all the purposes of any of the usual falsebot-tomed triangles, but one which also answers that of the usual separate box or receptacle for holding all the pool-balls, the players ball, &c., when `not in use in the room.

It is usual to supply all the balls for the table for the game of fifteen-ball pool in a rectangular box or ease, in which the room-keeper can store them and lock them up in his safe when not in use, and it is of course also necessary to have the separate contrivance of a triangle of some style to position the balls on the table. afford both these necessary contrivances in one article, and the supplementing ofthe triangular device (especially when used in connection with any of the automatically-dumping poolracks now in use) with the rectangular case not only does not interfere with the most convenient use of the triangular device, both as a tray and a placer of the balls on the table,

but in fact renders the tray device more convenient, since the rectangular addition facilitates the placement of the tray in proper relationship to the pool-rack, (in collecting the balls tov put them en thetable,) and also rendersless lia-blc the falling of any ball from the tray onto the-iioor during the collection of the ballsfrom the rack into the triangular tray.

By providing the tray with a rectangular sliding bottom and affording two continuous parallel supporting-ledges, as shown and described, the sliding bottom I (on which rests the weight of all the balls) is in theact of withdrawing the bottom (to let the balls down onto the table) supported up to the poi nt otits complete removal from beneath the balls always and properly at diametrically-opposite I'I.` lV, COLLENDEB.

In presence of- JoHN D. O CONNOR, LMoon FELBEL.

By the iirst part of myinvention I' IOO 

